There is a cliché that comes up just about every time an NBA team packs up and hits the road for a stretch — you know, that being at home maybe allows players to get a little too comfortable, that some hard time in luxury hotels and on cushy team jets can really take a team and make it come together. What better way to bond with your teammates than grousing over the fact that your lobster fricassee comes from room service rather than one's personal chef?

OK, so life on the road isn't what it used to be, back when players traveled by bus and had — gulp — roommates in their hotels. But the idea is the same: Going on the road is supposed to take players out of their elements and, in doing so, bring them together as a team. It doesn't do a team much good in terms of winning, not when only eight of 30 teams are over .500 on the road, and the combined league road winning percentage is .390. As team-building goes, though, most allege it's a good thing.

And for the Lakers, the road might be the last hope. It is true that they're only 5-15 away from their home floor, but they also have not yet given the road much of a chance — they have played the fewest road games of any team in the Western Conference and, in the league as a whole, only the Bulls have been on the road fewer times. The Lakers have not taken a trip of more than three games yet this year, and they've only taken three-game trips three times. They won one of the three games on their first two trips, and then got swept by Toronto, Chicago and Memphis last week.

It was in Memphis, of course, that the Lakers had their much-discussed team meeting, the one in which just about every player was testy, but is best known for Kobe Bryant challenging Dwight Howard without Howard offering much of a response. The Lakers went out and lost that night, but when they returned to Staples Center, they posted back-to-back wins over the Jazz and Thunder — one a playoff contender, one a championship contender.

While Howard has seemed dazed at times as this season has slipped past him, he was upbeat after the win over Oklahoma City, and he had the road chat in Memphis to thank for it.

"I'm very excited to see our progress," he said. "We're going to continue to work, continue to talk to each other. The biggest difference is we're holding each other accountable for everything. We had a great talk in Memphis, and it has carried over."

Certainly, for the Lakers, the time for chatting has passed. We've passed the midpoint of the season, and the Lakers are not rustling with the other Western Conference disappointments — Dallas and Minnesota — who are hoping a midseason surge can put them in position to sneak into the playoffs with a strong stretch run. This is where the Lakers are: Hoping to play well enough to have a chance to be one of the teams that slips into the back end of the playoffs.

This trip has the potential to vault them back into the mix, just as easily as it could snuff their good intentions out altogether. They'll be gone for 12 days, and will play seven games. Four are winnable, and three of those come at the outset of the trip, which begins with Phoenix, Minnesota and Detroit (though it should be pointed out that the Suns changed coaches and have played better, and Detroit has been surprisingly good lately). If the Lakers get off to a good start, it takes some pressure off the next two games, in Brooklyn and Boston, where the Rajon Rondo-less Celtics remain an unknown commodity.

That is followed by a gotta-have game in Charlotte, and the trip wraps with a splash of cold water for those who thought there was a chance of seeing Bryant and LeBron James in the Finals (guilty here!), when the Lakers play the Heat on Febr. 10.

It's easy enough to imagine the Lakers winning the first three games, splitting the next two, beating the Bobcats and guaranteeing themselves at least 5-2 when they go into Miami. That kind of trip would resuscitate the season, maybe create some of that good will toward each other that has been entirely lacking for this bunch. It's just as easy to imagine the team getting flattened from start to finish and coming back with their playoff hopes up in smoke and their hands at each other's throats.

Either way, this road trip represents the Lakers' last chance. Buckle in.